Working out the Kinks
by daftmunky
Summary: Eric admits to Nell that she's not the only one with personality flaws. One-shot. Blossoming Neric friendship or romance, depending on how you want to read it.


**Authors Note;** So, this is my third story. Forgive me if the Wonder Twins seem slightly out of character, this is just my idea of what I wish could have happened to bring their friendship/partnership/relationship together. Please be gentle! Reviews are most welcome!

"By the way," Eric said seeing as his new co-worker leaving for the day, "You're not the only one with bad habits."

"Sorry, what?" Nell was already at the automatic sliding doors but stopped, turning to face him.

"Earlier when you told me about why-"

"I finish your sentences." Eric smiled as she did just that. Now that he understood why she did it he didn't find it irritating. _Of course, her basically admitting she admires you doesn't have anything to do with it_, he thought sarcastically, and felt himself flush. She was blushing as well but he could see her biting her tongue to stop herself from an undoubtedly sarcastic remark; another of her 'personality flaws' as she had called them.

"Exactly." Sighing Eric took a steadying breath, knowing this wasn't going to be easy, "You know about Dom?" She nodded her head slightly and when she saw it was difficult for him to continue she tentatively spoke.

"Agent Dominic Vail. He was Kensi's partner before Deeks, right? He was abducted and then killed." Eric winced at the blunt way she put it, but didn't comment, taking in her apologetic expression.

"Yeah. Dom was… he wasn't like the other agents. He knew computers and he would occasionally help me with my case load up here sometimes, although looking back I think that that might have had something to do with not wanting to fill out all the paperwork," he smirked, remembering Dom's appearances would usually coincide with a mountain papers appearing on Callen's desk for distribution to the team. He saw Nell smiling too and realised that Deeks had tried to pull a similar stunt with her, but seeing as he didn't have any useful skills for her to utilise. She would always give him a very good impression of a 'Hetty' glare and send him back to his desk with his tail between his legs, "Anyway, Dom was bounced between me and Kens, depending on who needed his various skills more. I got to know him as a colleague, and then slowly as a friend and I got to like him. He was a great guy and he had this, this little green alien with a bobbing head that he would keep at his desk. Used to drive Sam up the wall," he gave a short laugh remembering the older agents disapproving gaze whenever someone bobbed the toys head, "Truth is, he was one of the only techs here that I could work with properly on a regular basis. When he-" He stopped and took another steadying breath, closing his eyes tightly. He didn't see Nell approach him so her tentative touch in his arm surprised him, but he didn't pull away, peculiarly finding the touch calming, reassuring, : When he was taken I did… I did everything I could. Everything. I tried to- to do any trick or… or… or God, whatever I could do to help. I hacked. I searched. I ran scenarios. Algorithms. I-"

"I know. I know you did, Eric." She interrupted, sensing that he was getting hysterical. He huffed a breath, opening his eyes and moving abruptly away from her. He couldn't deal with her being so close. He still blamed himself for not getting the team to Dom in time. Any sympathy or comfort that she was giving he didn't deserve.

"The trail went cold. The agents couldn't turn up any leads. The search was halted," he knew that his voice was emotionless now, but he was too drained to care, "Sam worked out his frustrations in the gym. Callen had one of his clandestine meetings with Hetty. Kensi went and did dishes at Dom's. Nate drove and re-drove the route where Dom had been abducted. I sat up here and played COD. 6 weeks later Deeks came into the picture during an undercover op that both our agencies were working from different angles. Hetty signed him on as liaison, as you know. He worked one more case with us before going on another LAPD undercover. Kensi was once more without a partner and Dom was still missing. But you know all this," he sighed heavily, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs that were beginning to form around the edges of his memories of Dom. He sank into his swivel chair, turning to face the big screen rather than looking directly at Nell, "When we, when we got the video with Dom in it, it was like surfacing after being held underwater by waves crashing repeatedly down on you, but just for a second. It was that initial relief of drawing in oxygen before being forced back down once again," Once more Nell approached him, coming stand behind him and delicately placing a small hand on his shoulder, but not offering anything further. He took his glasses off, throwing them carelessly down next to his computer before scrubbing his hands roughly over his face, "I didn't get the team the information they needed quickly enough. By the time Dom managed to escape and the team to get there to extract him it was too late." The images came then, flooding to the forefront of his memory and the pain made it too hard to continue, zoning out for a moment from reality to try to suppress the images.

"Eric," Nell's small voice interrupted the steady stream of thoughts and he started, somehow having not noticed her coming around from behind him and crouching down to see his face, "You don't have to tell me all of this. We can just forget about it."

"No," he said vehemently, "You have a right to know, you need to know. I just… I need a moment, please?"

"Yeah, of course." She rose and he heard the swooshing of the doors as she left, not taking her bag with her though, reassuring him that she would be back. He sat, unsure of how exactly to proceed. It had seemed so long ago that Dom had died, that they had sent his body back to his parents, that Hetty told them that they could not attend the funeral, that Nate had left. Time was just not on his side in this tale. A glass of water appeared in front of him, and he looked up. Nell was giving him a small smile, proffering the glass once more. He smiled at her gratefully and took the glass, but didn't drink from it. This time she sat on the floor in front of him, her back against the wall, he short legs stretched out in front of her. Neither spoke for a moment. He took the moment to gather his thoughts for the millionth time before moving on, "I saw the whole thing. There were security cameras up on the roof. I watched from this frigging room as Sam and Dom came under fire, as Kensi tried to force her way out the door where Dom had come through. And I watched as the gunmen came out the door behind Sam, as Dom yelled at Sam and jumped in the line of fire. Every time a bullet hit him his whole body jerked," he was whispering, and he didn't know if Nell could actually hear him or not but he couldn't bring himself to speak any louder, "It's not like in the movies, or in a video game. It literally made my heart stop." His breathing became shallow and rapid, he started sweating and suddenly the usually cool temperature in ops was stifling. He put the glass on the desk as his hands started shaking uncontrollably. He remembered this feeling. It was a panic attack. The air wasn't filling his lungs as it should be. He couldn't stop the gasping.

"Eric?" Nell was sounding panicked now as well, "Eric, what is going on?"

"Its not… I can't.. Air.." He couldn't force the words out to stop her from panicking, "I can't...breathe."

"Oh. Oooh! You're having a panic attack!" Her realization was a small relief for him, as he knew there was nothing she could do to help him. She surprised him again, however, by rushing forward and crouching in front of him on her knees. She took his face gently in her hands, holding his jaw delicately and brushing her thumbs over his cheeks, "Eric, Eric! Just look at me. Look at me!" She forced him to look into her eyes and stared piercingly at him, "You just need to breathe. In, out. In, out." She demonstrated for him but he couldn't bring himself to slow his breathing enough to actually inhale any air. The longer he was going without oxygen the more his mind was panicking. When she saw his situation she carried on her exaggerated breathing, but gently slapped his cheeks, trying anything to pull him out of his panic. "Screw it!" He heard her mumble before pinching his nose closed and putting her hand over his mouth. His mind stopped momentarily before racing once more even faster. His fight or flight mode kicked in and he got himself under control enough to push her away.

"What the fuck, Nell!" He yelled jumping up from the seat forcefully enough to send it flying backwards as he stumbled, the lack of oxygen to his brain causing him to become dizzy. She jumped up and made a move to help steady him but he recoiled, putting out his hands to stave her off.

"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry Eric!" She cried, not moving towards him again, but standing with her hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry, I just didn't know any other way to stop you. When anxiety hits you, usually you can stop it by slowing your breathing, but you weren't so a last resort is to stop breathing! Instinctively you won't stop! I couldn't think of any other way!" She was speaking so rapidly that it was hard for Eric to hear her over the rushing of blood and slight ringing in his ears. As he stumbled once more his back connected painfully with the island in the middle of their work time when she rushed forward he didn't stop her, instead, he let her take hold of his elbows, pulling him back to his chair and sitting him down. He felt her push his head down between his knees, gently rubbing one hand over his back, the other pressed gently to his head to stop him from lifting his head. Her hands running through his hair was so comforting that he couldn't bring himself to push her away. "I'm so sorry." She repeated, a lot more gently this time. Eric got his control breathing under control, stopping the dizzy spinning. He reached up and gently took the hand that had been running through his hair and that was now resting on the back of his neck in his own, and sat up slowly.

"It's okay. I get it. It's okay." She squeezed his fingers gently before pulling her hands away and moving back to her own seat.

"Eric, you really don't have to finish. We can just leave it at that."

"No," he protested again, moving himself over to his work station again and taking a sip from the abandoned glass of water, "Sorry. I thought those had stopped. I haven't had one in about 8 months," he admitted, draining the glass.

"So, what was your bad habit?" Her question threw him for a moment, before he remembered what the point of his opening up to her was about. He chuckled slightly, retrieving his glasses and propping them back on his face and smiling up at her.

"Awkward humour."

"What?"

"Well, inappropriate humour might be a more appropriate way to put it," he grinned again before sobering up, "After… that… as per protocol, we had to have a meeting with Director Vance to give a report. As you can figure out from interactions with Hetty, I'm not exactly socially gifted, especially when it comes down to authority figures. I had a little chat with Callen afterwards, still feeling awkward, and then the awkward humour emerges." She laughed, only imagining what sorts of 'inappropriate' things he had probably sputtered to the team leader. Eric smiled at the sound, finally having calmed his heart and breathing. Her laugh was so infectious that he just had to join in as well. Soon the pair were laughing hysterically in their respective chairs, clutching their rib cages and grinning widely at one another, all traces of their former heavy conversation and his panic attack. As they calmed down from the sudden euphoric high they both took several deep breaths, trying to ease their aching abdomens.

"Oh my God," Nell breathed and he moaned in sympathy, rubbing his stomach, "I've got to see that sometime."

"It's not funny!" He cried, cringing as they both started to laugh again, "Ow! Oh my God, I have no social grace whatsoever! Can you imagine how hard getting this job was with a personality flaw like that!"

"Oh Eric! That's not a personality flaw! It's just who you are!"

"Wow, thank you!" He cried sarcastically. They grinned once more, but stood simultaneously. Moving around the room to collect their stuff; Nell picking up her bag that she had discarded at her workstation and waiting for him by the doors, him throwing his tablet and a couple of folders into his bag and joining her. They walked out the doors, down the stairs and out of mission together, not talking, but keeping a comfortable silence. As they reached her car which was closest to the office they slowed, unsure of how to say goodnight.

"Do you…" She started and he stopped walking, turning to face her, but not looking at her directly, "I was thinking of maybe stopping to get a drink. Do you… um… do you want to join me?" He grinned as she mumbled the invitation.

"You know," he started, drawing it out, sadistically enjoying making her squirm, "Ask me a few weeks ago? I would have said no…" Deliberately leaving the sentence hanging, and not answering her question.

"Oh, that's fine. Don't-"

"Nell, I'm kidding!" He interrupted, grabbing her shoulder to stop her from talking, "Kidding! I could do with a drink after all that." They shared a smile and she ducked her head in a way that he found bizarrely endearing.

"Okay," she grinned, "I'm going to _Rays_ if you want to follow? Or do you want a ride?"

"I'll follow, I have my truck."

"Okay, see ya there." She smiled and let him hold her drivers door open while she slid in. Once satisfied that she was in safely he closed the door gently and tapped the roof of her Mini, before jogging off to his own car. She pulled passed him as he got in and idled, waiting for him to get in and start. As he turned on his indicator, he pulled out to follow. _I'm right, I would never have thought I'd be joining Nell Jones for a drink in a million years._ He shrugged, deciding that it would be best to just forgive and forget. _For the sake of their partnership, of course._


End file.
